1.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state‍—‌the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government

2.
1900 in Ireland
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Events from the year 1900 in Ireland. 16 January — Three lion cubs reared by an Irish red setter go on view at Dublin Zoo,17 January — The different sections of the Nationalist Party meet in the Dublin Mansion Houses Oak Room to promote national unity. 6 February — The Irish National League and Irish National Federation re-unite within the Irish Parliamentary Party,28 February — Unofficial figures show that the Royal Dublin Fusiliers suffered the most in the Second Boer War. 12 March — The 45th Company of the Imperial Yeomanry leave Dublin for service in South Africa,1 April — The Irish Guards regiment of the British Army is formed by order of Queen Victoria to honour the Irish troops fighting in the Boer War for the British Empire. 4 April — Queen Victoria arrives at Kingstown and travels to Dublin where she is greeted by the Lord Mayor,7 April —52,000 children greet Queen Victoria at the Phoenix Park in Dublin. 23 April — At a meeting in Loughrea, Douglas Hyde complains of the rapid Anglicisation of the country,11 May — Edward Carson becomes Solicitor General for England and Wales and is knighted. 13 May — The rift in the Irish Parliamentary Party is healed as John Dillon,5 July — The British War Office issues a list of Irish prisoners of the Boers from the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers. It names 473 men from eight companies,30 November — Oscar Wilde, dramatist and wit, dies in poverty in Paris aged 46. 31 December — Ceremonies all over the mark the closing of the 19th century. Richard J. Ussher and Robert Warren publish The Birds of Ireland, moira ONeill publishes Songs of the Glens of Antrim. 10 January — Harry Kernoff, artist,19 January — Frank Devlin, badminton player. January — Michael Donnellan, founder of Clann na Talmhan and TD.22 February — Seán Ó Faoláin,27 February — James Ennis, cricketer. 6 March — Mark Deering, Fine Gael TD.25 May — John Hunt,10 July — Paul Vincent Carroll, dramatist. 17 July — Paddy Smith, Fianna Fáil TD and longest-serving member of Dáil Éireann,22 July — Michael Davern, Fianna Fáil TD for Tipperary South 1948–1965. 2 October — Hubert Butler, writer and historian,18 October — Sarah Makem, traditional singer. 23 October — Paddy Ahern, Cork hurler,2 November — William Norton, Labour Party leader, TD and Cabinet Minister. 19 November — Pamela Hinkson, writer,4 December — Tom Farquharson, soccer player. 23 December — Noel Purcell, actor, John Stewart Collis, writer and pioneer ecologist and his twin Robert Collis, physician and writer

3.
1900
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As of the start of 1900, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923. As of March 1, when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, january 2 – U. S. Secretary of State John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote American trade with China. Rowland of Johns Hopkins University announces a theory about the cause of the Earths magnetism, january 6 – Second Boer War, Boers attempt to end the Siege of Ladysmith, which leads to the Battle of Platrand. January 9 – S. S. Lazio, an Italian professional sports club, is founded in Rome, january 14 Puccinis opera Tosca premieres in Rome, Italy. The U. S. Senate accepts the British-German treaty of 1899, january 24 – The Second Boer War, At the Battle of Spion Kop, Boer troops defeat the British Army. January 27 – Boxer Rebellion, Foreign diplomats in Peking, Qing dynasty China, january 31 – Datu Muhammad Salleh, leader of the Mat Salleh Rebellion in North Borneo, is shot dead in Tambunan. February 5 – The United Kingdom and the United States sign a treaty for the building of a Central American shipping canal across Central America in Nicaragua, february 6 – The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree. February 8 – Second Boer War, British troops are defeated by the Boers at Ladysmith, february 14 – Second Boer War – Battle of Paardeberg,20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State. February 15 – Second Boer War, The Siege of Kimberley is lifted, february 17 – Second Boer War, Battle of Paardeberg, British troops defeat the Boers. February 27 FC Bayern, Germanys most successful club, is founded in Munich. Second Boer War, British military leaders accept the notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronjé. British Labour Party, officially established in London, England, United Kingdom, March 5 – Two U. S. Navy cruisers are sent to Central America to protect American interests in a dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. March 6 – A coal mine explosion in West Virginia, U. S. A. kills 50 miners, March 14 – Botanist Hugo de Vries rediscovers Mendels Laws of Heredity. March 15 – The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing the United States currency on the gold standard, March 16 – The British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans purchases the land on Crete on which the ruins of the palace of Knossos stand. He begins to unearth some of the three days later. March 18 – AFC Ajax, a most successful club in Netherlands. March 27 – The arrival of a Russian naval fleet in Korea causes concern to the Imperial Japanese government, april 14 – The Paris World Exhibition opens. April 22 – Battle of Kousséri, French forces secure their domination of Chad, warlord Rabih az-Zubayr is defeated and killed

4.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established as a sovereign state on 1 January 1801 by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. The growing desire for an Irish Republic led to the Irish War of Independence, Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, and the state was consequently renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Britain financed the European coalition that defeated France in 1815 in the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire thereby became the foremost world power for the next century. The Crimean War with Russia and the Boer wars were relatively small operations in a largely peaceful century, rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the states formation continued up until the mid-19th century. A devastating famine, exacerbated by government inaction in the century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland. It was an era of economic modernization and growth of industry, trade and finance. Outward migration was heavy to the colonies and to the United States. Britain also built up a large British Empire in Africa and Asia, India, by far the most important possession, saw a short-lived revolt in 1857. In foreign policy Britain favoured free trade, which enabled its financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Britain formed no permanent military alliances until the early 20th century, when it began to cooperate with Japan, France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States. A brief period of limited independence for Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the British governments fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with the French resulted in the decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801, however, King George III was bitterly opposed to any such Emancipation and succeeded in defeating his governments attempts to introduce it. When the Treaty of Amiens ended the war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized, in May 1803, war was declared again. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees, which brought into effect the Continental System and this policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. Frances population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of the British Isles, Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from the European mainland would end its economic hegemony. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent, after Napoleons surrender and exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon once, simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes, arming hostile Indians and British impressment of American sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. The war was little noticed in Britain, which could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814, American frigates inflicted a series of defeats on the Royal Navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe

5.
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
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The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom, its dependencies and its overseas territories. The monarchs title is King or Queen, the current monarch and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, ascended the throne on the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952. The monarch and his or her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial, diplomatic, as the monarchy is constitutional, the monarch is limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honours and appointing the Prime Minister. The monarch is, by tradition, commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces, from 1603, when the Scottish monarch King James VI inherited the English throne as James I, both the English and Scottish kingdoms were ruled by a single sovereign. From 1649 to 1660, the tradition of monarchy was broken by the republican Commonwealth of England, the Act of Settlement 1701 excluded Roman Catholics, or those who married Catholics, from succession to the English throne. In 1707, the kingdoms of England and Scotland were merged to create the Kingdom of Great Britain, and in 1801, the British monarch became nominal head of the vast British Empire, which covered a quarter of the worlds surface at its greatest extent in 1921. After the Second World War, the vast majority of British colonies and territories became independent, George VI and his successor, Elizabeth II, adopted the title Head of the Commonwealth as a symbol of the free association of its independent member states. The United Kingdom and fifteen other Commonwealth monarchies that share the person as their monarch are called Commonwealth realms. In the uncodified Constitution of the United Kingdom, the Monarch is the Head of State, oaths of allegiance are made to the Queen and her lawful successors. God Save the Queen is the British national anthem, and the monarch appears on postage stamps, coins, the Monarch takes little direct part in Government. Executive power is exercised by Her Majestys Government, which comprises Ministers, primarily the Prime Minister and the Cabinet and they have the direction of the Armed Forces of the Crown, the Civil Service and other Crown Servants such as the Diplomatic and Secret Services. Judicial power is vested in the Judiciary, who by constitution, the Church of England, of which the Monarch is the head, has its own legislative, judicial and executive structures. Powers independent of government are legally granted to public bodies by statute or Statutory Instrument such as an Order in Council. The Sovereigns role as a monarch is largely limited to non-partisan functions. This role has been recognised since the 19th century, the constitutional writer Walter Bagehot identified the monarchy in 1867 as the dignified part rather than the efficient part of government. Whenever necessary, the Monarch is responsible for appointing a new Prime Minister, the Prime Minister takes office by attending the Monarch in private audience, and after kissing hands that appointment is immediately effective without any other formality or instrument. Since 1945, there have only been two hung parliaments, the first followed the February 1974 general election when Harold Wilson was appointed Prime Minister after Edward Heath resigned following his failure to form a coalition. Although Wilsons Labour Party did not have a majority, they were the largest party, the second followed the May 2010 general election, in which the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats agreed to form the first coalition government since World War II

6.
Queen Victoria
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Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she adopted the title of Empress of India. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, both the Duke of Kent and King George III died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne aged 18, after her fathers three brothers had all died, leaving no surviving legitimate children. The United Kingdom was already a constitutional monarchy, in which the sovereign held relatively little direct political power. Privately, Victoria attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments, publicly, Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together, after Alberts death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength and her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration. Her reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian era and it was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover and her son and successor, Edward VII, belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of his father. Victorias father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, until 1817, Edwards niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, was the only legitimate grandchild of George III. Her death in 1817 precipitated a crisis that brought pressure on the Duke of Kent. In 1818 he married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a widowed German princess with two children—Carl and Feodora —by her first marriage to the Prince of Leiningen and her brother Leopold was Princess Charlottes widower. The Duke and Duchess of Kents only child, Victoria, was born at 4.15 a. m. on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London. Victoria was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, on 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace and she was baptised Alexandrina, after one of her godparents, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria, after her mother. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina, Charlotte, and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of the Dukes eldest brother, George, the Duke of Clarence and the Duke of Kent married on the same day in 1818, but both of Clarences daughters died as infants. Victorias father died in January 1820, when Victoria was less than a year old, a week later her grandfather died and was succeeded by his eldest son, George IV. The Duke of York died in 1827, when George IV died in 1830, he was succeeded by his next surviving brother, William IV, and Victoria became heir presumptive

7.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
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The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of Her Majestys Government in the United Kingdom. The prime minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Monarch, to Parliament, to their political party, the office is one of the Great Offices of State. The current prime minister, Theresa May, leader of the Conservative Party, was appointed by the Queen on 13 July 2016. The position of Prime Minister was not created, it evolved slowly and erratically over three hundred years due to acts of Parliament, political developments, and accidents of history. The office is therefore best understood from a historical perspective, the origins of the position are found in constitutional changes that occurred during the Revolutionary Settlement and the resulting shift of political power from the Sovereign to Parliament. The political position of Prime Minister was enhanced by the development of political parties, the introduction of mass communication. By the start of the 20th century the modern premiership had emerged, prior to 1902, the prime minister sometimes came from the House of Lords, provided that his government could form a majority in the Commons. However as the power of the aristocracy waned during the 19th century the convention developed that the Prime Minister should always sit in the lower house. As leader of the House of Commons, the Prime Ministers authority was further enhanced by the Parliament Act of 1911 which marginalised the influence of the House of Lords in the law-making process. The Prime Minister is ex officio also First Lord of the Treasury, certain privileges, such as residency of 10 Downing Street, are accorded to Prime Ministers by virtue of their position as First Lord of the Treasury. As the Head of Her Majestys Government the modern Prime Minister leads the Cabinet, in addition the Prime Minister leads a major political party and generally commands a majority in the House of Commons. As such the incumbent wields both legislative and executive powers, under the British system there is a unity of powers rather than separation. In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister guides the process with the goal of enacting the legislative agenda of their political party. The Prime Minister also acts as the face and voice of Her Majestys Government. The British system of government is based on an uncodified constitution, in 1928, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith described this characteristic of the British constitution in his memoirs, In this country we live. Our constitutional practices do not derive their validity and sanction from any Bill which has received the assent of the King, Lords. They rest on usage, custom, convention, often of slow growth in their early stages, not always uniform, the relationships between the Prime Minister and the Sovereign, Parliament and Cabinet are defined largely by these unwritten conventions of the constitution. Many of the Prime Ministers executive and legislative powers are actually royal prerogatives which are still vested in the Sovereign

8.
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
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He was the last prime minister to head his full administration from the House of Lords. In 1868 upon the death of his father, Cecil was elevated to the House of Lords and he became prime minister in June 1885 when the Liberal leader William Ewart Gladstone resigned, and held the office until January 1886. When Gladstone came out in favour of Home Rule for Ireland, Salisbury opposed him and formed an alliance with the breakaway Liberal Unionists and he died a year later, in 1903. Historians agree that Salisbury was a strong and effective leader in foreign affairs, Paul Smith characterises his personality as deeply neurotic, depressive, agitated, introverted, fearful of change and loss of control, and self-effacing but capable of extraordinary competitiveness. A representative of the aristocracy, he held the reactionary credo, Whatever happens will be for the worse. Lord Robert Cecil was the son of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury. He was a descendant of Lord Burghley and the 1st Earl of Salisbury. The family owned vast rural estates in Hertfordshire and Dorset and this wealth increased sharply in 1821, when he married the rich heiress of a merchant prince who had bought up large estates in Essex and Lancashire. Robert had a childhood, with few friends, he filled his time with reading. He was bullied unmercifully at the schools he attended, in 1840, he went to Eton College, where he did well in French, German, Classics, and Theology, however, he left in 1845 because of intense bullying. The unhappy schooling shaped his outlook on life and his negative views on democracy. He decided that most people were cowardly and cruel, and that the mob would run roughshod over sensitive individuals, in December 1847 he went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he received an honorary fourth class in mathematics conferred by noblemans privilege due to ill health. Whilst at Oxford he found the Oxford movement or Tractarianism to be an intoxicating force, in April 1850 he joined Lincolns Inn but subsequently did not enjoy law. His doctor advised him to travel for his health, and so in July 1851 to May 1853 Cecil travelled through Cape Colony, Australia, including Tasmania, and New Zealand. He found the Kaffirs a fine set of men – whose language bears traces of a very high former civilisation and they were an intellectual race, with great firmness and fixedness of will but horribly immoral as they lacked theism. In the Bendigo goldmine of Australia, he claimed there is not half as much crime or insubordination as there would be in an English town of the same wealth. Ten thousand miners were policed by four men armed with carbines, a Maori chief offered Cecil five acres near Auckland, which he declined. He entered the House of Commons as a Conservative on 22 August 1853 and he retained this seat until entering the peerage and it was not contested during his time as its representative

9.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
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It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. Its head is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the boroughs of the British capital, the parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house and a lower house. The Sovereign forms the third component of the legislature, prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009, the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords. The House of Commons is an elected chamber with elections held at least every five years. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster in London, most cabinet ministers are from the Commons, whilst junior ministers can be from either House. The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union by Acts of Union passed by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The UK parliament and its institutions have set the pattern for many throughout the world. However, John Bright – who coined the epithet – used it with reference to a rather than a parliament. In theory, the UKs supreme legislative power is vested in the Crown-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the Prime Minister, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801, by the merger of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union. The principle of responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th century—the House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an electoral system. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with seven voters, many small constituencies, known as pocket or rotten boroughs, were controlled by members of the House of Lords, who could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. During the reforms of the 19th century, beginning with the Reform Act 1832, No longer dependent on the Lords for their seats, MPs grew more assertive. The supremacy of the British House of Commons was established in the early 20th century, in 1909, the Commons passed the so-called Peoples Budget, which made numerous changes to the taxation system which were detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which consisted mostly of powerful landowners, on the basis of the Budgets popularity and the Lords consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party narrowly won two general elections in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the Parliament Bill, in the face of such a threat, the House of Lords narrowly passed the bill. However, regardless of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the parliaments of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and reduced the representation of both parts at Westminster

10.
HMY Victoria and Albert (1899)
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HMY Victoria and Albert was a royal yacht of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. The yacht was designed by the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy Sir William White, launched in 1899 and this was the third yacht to be named Victoria and Albert and she was fitted with steam engines fired by Belleville water-tube boilers. She served four sovereigns, and was decommissioned as royal yacht in 1939, served in the Second World War, built at Pembroke Dock and launched in 1899, she was completed in the summer 1901, seven months after the death of Queen Victoria. The vessel measured 380 feet in length by 40 feet in the beam with a tonnage of 4,700, the total cost of the ship was £572,000, five-sevenths the cost of the battleship HMS Renown. During fitting-out the yacht had significant extra weight added including concrete ballast and this extra weight proved to be beyond the original design parameters and resulted in the ship tipping over when the dock was flooded – causing significant damage to the ship. Designer Sir William White was exonerated from direct responsibility, but lost confidence, Victoria and Albert was commissioned at Portsmouth 23 July 1901 by Commodore the Hon. Hedworth Lambton, who hoisted his broad pennant. Nearly all the company of 230 men of the old HMY Victoria and Albert II were transferred to the new yacht. King Edward later used the yacht for summer cruises most years of his reign, Victoria and Albert later served King George V, King Edward VIII and King George VI, and took part in two fleet reviews, but was withdrawn after the latter and decommissioned in 1939. She served as a ship during the Second World War, as an accommodation ship to HMS Excellent. During 1947, while moored alongside at Whale Island, her caretaker was Mr J. G and he was responsible for the care of her contents, some of which were selected for eventual use in HMY Britannia. Although there were plans for a new yacht to be built these were suspended due to the outbreak of the Second World War, eventually HMY Britannia replaced Victoria and Albert in 1954. The Metal Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy 1860-1970, maritimeQuest photo gallery, Victoria and Albert Video of Victoria and Albert at the opening ceremony of Southamptons King George V dry dock in July 1933

11.
Dry dock
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A dry dock is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, and repair of ships, boats, the use of dry docks in China goes at least as far back the 10th century A. D. The upper works included several decks with cabins and saloons. After many years, their hulls decayed and needed repairs, so in the Hsi-Ning reign period a palace official Huang Huai-Hsin suggested a plan. A large basin was excavated at the end of the Chin-ming Lake capable of containing the dragon ships. Then so that the quickly filled with water, after which the ships were towed in above the beams. The the water was pumped out by wheels so that the ships rested quite in the air, when the repairs were complete, the water was let in again, so that the ships were afloat once more. The first English and oldest surviving dry dock still in use was commissioned by Henry VII of England at HMNB Portsmouth in 1495 and this dry dock currently holds the worlds oldest commissioned warship, HMS Victory. Possibly the earliest description of a floating dock comes from a small Italian book printed in Venice in 1560, called Descrittione dellartifitiosa machina. In the booklet, an unknown author asks for the privilege of using a new method for the salvaging of a ship and then proceeds to describe. The included woodcut shows a ship flanked by two large floating trestles, forming a roof above the vessel, the ship is pulled in an upright position by a number of ropes attached to the superstructure. The Alfredo da Silva Dry Dock, of the Lisnave Dockyards in Almada, Portugal, was the largest in the world until 2000, harland and Wolff Heavy Industries in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is the site of a large dry dock 556 by 93 metres. The massive cranes are named after the Biblical figures Samson and Goliath, Goliath stands 96 m tall, while Samson is taller at 106 m. The Saint-Nazaires Chantiers de lAtlantique owns one of the biggest in the world,1,200 by 60 metres, the largest graving dock of the Mediterranean as of 2009 is at the Hellenic Shipyards S. A. The largest roofed dry dock is at the German Meyer Werft Shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, it is 504 m long,125 m wide, Dry Dock 12 at Newport News Shipbuilding is 662 by 76 metres the largest dry dock in the USA. The largest floating-dock in North America named The Vigorous and it is operated Vigor Industries in Portland, OR, in the Swan Island industrial area along the Willamette River. The keel blocks as well as the block are placed on the floor of the dock in accordance with the docking plan of the ship. Routine use of dry docks is for the graving i. e. the cleaning, removal of barnacles and rust, some fine-tuning of the ships position can be done by divers while there is still some water left to manoeuvre it about

12.
Pembroke Dock
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Pembroke Dock is a community and a town in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales, lying north of Pembroke on the River Cleddau. Originally a small fishing village known as Paterchurch, the town was expanded from 1814 onwards following the construction of a Royal Naval Dockyard. It is the third largest town in Pembrokeshire after Haverfordwest and Milford Haven, from the 790s until the Norman Invasion in 1066, the Milford Haven estuary was used occasionally by Vikings looking for shelter. During one visit, the Viking chieftain Hubba wintered in the haven with 23 ships, in 1172, three years after the Norman Invasion of Ireland, having prepared his fleet and army in the mouth of the Pembroke River, Henry II of England sailed there from the haven. Prior to 1814, the site of modern Pembroke Dock and its settlements were mostly farmland. The first recorded mention of Paterchurch was in 1289, in the area a medieval tower was built and, like nearby 18th century and 19th century fortifications, it may have served as a lookout post. By the 17th century, additional domestic and farm buildings close to the tower. The ruin of the tower now lies within the walls of the dockyard, Paterchurch Tower was the centre of an estate said to stretch from Pennar Point to Cosheston. This changed hands in 1422 when Ellen de Paterchurch married a John Adams, prior to the building of the town and before the dockyard was thought of, various sales and exchanges took place between the principal local landowners – the Adams, Owen and Meyrick families. These exchanges left the Meyricks in control of most of the land on which the dockyard, by 1802 the Paterchurch buildings were mostly ruins. The origins of naval shipbuilding on Milford Haven were in the shipyard of Jacobs on the north side of the Haven at Milford. In November 1757, the Admiralty sent a delegation to the haven. It should be noted that no place as Milford existed at this time. Secondly, the report showed early signs of lobbying existing, with the scale of the local infrastructure and ship building activity exaggerated. In partnership with the administrator, his nephew and heir the Hon. Charles Grenville. They began by building a shipyard, and leased it to a Messrs, in December 1796, in an unusual arrangement, the Admiralty directed the Navy Board to contract Jacobs shipyard to build a frigate and later a 74-gun ship-of-the-line. However, due to a lack of local standing oak, access to supplies of timber from the Baltic, and local skills in volume. The Navy took over the lease, and employed royalist French naval architect M. Rennie Barallier and his son as Builder

13.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area

14.
Redvers Buller
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Redvers Buller was born at the family estate of Downes, near Crediton in Devon, inherited by his great-grandfather James Buller from his mother Elizabeth Gould, the wife of James Buller, MP. The Bullers were an old Cornish family, long seated at Morval in Cornwall until their removal to Downes, after completing his schooling at Eton he was commissioned into the 60th Rifles in May 1858. He served in the Second Opium War and was promoted captain before taking part in the Canadian Red River Expedition of 1870, in 1873–74 he was the intelligence officer under Lord Wolseley during the Ashanti campaign, during which he was slightly wounded at the Battle of Ordabai. He was promoted to major and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath and he then served in South Africa during the 9th Cape Frontier War in 1878 and the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. In the Zulu War he commanded the infantry of the northern British column under Sir Evelyn Wood. He fought at the British defeat at the Battle of Hlobane, the following day he fought in the British victory at the Battle of Kambula. After the Zulu attacks on the British position were beaten off, in June 1879, he again commanded mounted troops at the Battle of Ulundi, a decisive British victory which effectively ended the war. His VC citation reads, For his gallant conduct at the retreat at Inhlobana, on the 28th March,1879, in having assisted, whilst hotly pursued by Zulus, in rescuing Captain C. DArcy, of the Frontier Light Horse, who was retiring on foot, also for having on the same date and under the same circumstances, conveyed Lieutenant C. Everitt, of the Frontier Light Horse, whose horse had been killed under him, Buller. it was discovered that the mountain was surrounded by a vast horde of Zulus. An attempt was made to descend on the side opposite to the pass, ashby and his little party endeavoured to fight their way down, and at last he and a man named Andrew Gemmell, now living in New Zealand, were the only ones left. With their faces to the foe, firing as they retired, then an unfortunate thing happened, Cpl. Ashbys rifle burst, but, fortunately for him, Col. Buller, afterwards Sir Redvers Buller, who was one of the party, came galloping by, Col. Buller was a heavy man, and his horse was a light one, and realizing this, Cpl. But the Colonel stayed with him, and, Cpl, ashby having picked up a rifle and ammunition from a fallen comrade, the two men retired, firing whenever a foeman showed himself. They eventually reached the camp, and for this service. Out of 500 men who made the attack on the Zjilobane Mountain, in the First Boer War of 1881 he was Sir Evelyn Woods chief of staff and the following year was again head of intelligence, this time in the Egypt campaign, and was knighted. He was sent to Ireland in 1886, to head an inquiry into moonlighting by police personnel and he returned to the Army as Quartermaster-General to the Forces the following year and in 1890 promoted to Adjutant-General to the Forces, becoming a Lieutenant general on 1 April 1891. On 24 June 1896 Buller was promoted to full General, Buller became head of the troops stationed at Aldershot in 1898

15.
Battle of Spion Kop
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The Battle of Spion Kop was fought about 38 km west-south-west of Ladysmith on the hilltop of Spioenkop along the Tugela River, Natal in South Africa from 23–24 January 1900. It was fought between the South African Republic and the Orange Free State on the one hand and British forces during the Second Boer War campaign to relieve Ladysmith. General Sir Redvers Buller, VC, commander of the British forces in Natal, was attempting to relieve a British force besieged in Ladysmith, the Boers under General Louis Botha held the Tugela River against him. Although Bothas men were outnumbered, they were equipped with modern Mauser rifles and up-to-date field guns. In late December,1899, Buller made an assault on the Boer positions at the Battle of Colenso. The result was a heavy British defeat, over the next few weeks, Buller received further reinforcements, and also acquired sufficient carts and transport to operate away from the railway line which was his main supply line. Buller devised a new plan of attack to relieve Ladysmith and his army was to launch a two-pronged offensive designed to cross the Tugela River at two points and create a bridgehead. They would then attack the line that blocked Bullers advance to Ladysmith. The area was only 32 kilometres from Ladysmith, Buller delegated control of his main force to General Sir Charles Warren, to cross at Trichardts Drift. Buller would then send a smaller force, under Major General Neville Lyttelton to attack east of Warrens force as a diversion at Potgieters Drift. Once across the Tugela the British would attack the Boer defensive positions, Warrens force numbered 11,000 infantry,2,200 cavalry, and 36 field guns. On the 11th they marched westward to cross the Little Tugela, however their march was easily visible to the Boers, and so slow that by the time they arrived at the Tugela, the Boers had entrenched a new position covering it. Once all his force had crossed the river, Warren sent part of a division under Lieutenant General Francis Clery against the Boer right flank positions on a plateau named Tabanyama. The Boers had once again entrenched a new position on the slopes of the plateau. Meanwhile, the secondary British attack by Lyttelton at Potgieters Drift had yet to commence in full, Spion Kop, just northeast of Warrens force, was the largest hill in the region, being over 430 metres in height. It lay almost exactly at the centre of the Boer line, if the British could capture this position and bring artillery to the hill then they would command the flanks of the surrounding Boer positions. On the night of 23 January, Warren sent the larger part of his force under Major General Edward Woodgate to secure Spion Kop, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Thorneycroft was selected to lead the initial assault. The British climbed up the hill at night and in dense mist and they surprised the small Boer piquet and drove them off the kop at bayonet point

16.
Gramophone Company
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This article is about the company which operated the HMV record label. For the HMV Records label, see His Masters Voice, the Gramophone Company, based in the United Kingdom, was one of the early recording companies, and was the parent organisation for the famous His Masters Voice label. The Gramophone Company was founded in 1898 by William Barry Owen and Trevor Williams in London, Owen was acting as agent for Emile Berliner, inventor of the gramophone record, whilst Williams provided the finances. Most of the early discs were made in Hanover, Germany at a plant operated by members of Berliners family. In 1898, Fred Gaisberg moved from the U. S. to London to set up the first disc recording studio in Europe, among early artists he recorded was the Syria Lamont, an Australian soprano whose single Coming through the Rye was one of the first ever issued. In December 1900, Owen gained the rights for the Lambert Typewriter Company. This was an attempt to diversify the business model, in response to a series of lawsuits brought about by Edison Bell. In 1900, the U. S. parent of Gramophone lost a patent infringement suit brought on by Columbia Records and Zonophone, the agreement allowed Columbia to produce flat records themselves, which they began doing in 1901, Columbias records had previously been cylinders. Thus, Victor and Columbia began making records in the U. S. with UK Gramophone. This left Edison the only player in the making of cylinders. Emile Berliner went out of the business, all he had left were the masters of his earlier records. These he took to Canada and reformed his Berliner label in Montreal, Edison would soon join the flat record market with his diamond discs and their players. A public relations effort of 1907 involved Alfred Clark, a New York representative of the company, Clark persuaded the Paris Opera to seal and lock 24 records in two iron and lead containers in a basement storage room. These were to be opened in 100 years, in 1912,24 more records were added in two additional containers, along with a wind-up gramophone and a supply of needles to insure the records could be played when unsealed. In 1989, it was discovered one of the 1912 containers had been opened and emptied. The three remaining containers were moved to the French National Library, when opened in December 2007, some of the records were broken, but copies of the missing and broken records were located in the French National Library. EMI digitized the collection and released it on three discs in February 2009 as Les Urnes de lOpera. The latter had designed by Theodore Birnbaum, an executive of the Gramophone Company pressing plant in Hanover

17.
His Master's Voice
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His Masters Voice, abbreviated HMV, is a famous trademark in the music and recording industry and was for many years the unofficial name of a large British record label. The name was coined in the 1890s as the title of a painting of a dog named Nipper, in the original painting, the dog was listening to a cylinder phonograph. The trademark image comes from a painting by English artist Francis Barraud and it was acquired from the artist in 1899 by the newly formed Gramophone Company and adopted by the Victor Talking Machine Company in the United States. According to contemporary Gramophone Company publicity material, the dog, a terrier named Nipper, had belonged to Barrauds brother. When Mark Barraud died, Francis inherited Nipper, with a cylinder phonograph, Francis noted the peculiar interest that the dog took in the recorded voice of his late master emanating from the horn, and conceived the idea of committing the scene to canvas. In early 1899, Francis Barraud applied for copyright of the painting using the descriptive working title Dog looking at. The image was first used on the companys catalogue dated December 1899, Victor used the image more aggressively than its UK partner, and from 1902 most Victor records had a simplified drawing of Barrauds dog-and-gramophone image on their labels. Magazine advertisements urged record buyers to look for the dog, in British Commonwealth countries, the Gramophone Company did not use the dog on its record labels until 1909. The following year the Gramophone Company replaced the Recording Angel trademark in the half of the record labels with the Nipper logo. The company was not formally called HMV or His Masters Voice, Records issued by the company before February 1908 were generally referred to as G&Ts, while those after that date are usually called HMV records. This image continued to be used as a trademark by Victor in the U. S. Canada, and Latin America, and then by Victors successor, in Commonwealth countries it was used by subsidiaries of the Gramophone Company, which ultimately became part of EMI. The trademarks ownership is divided among different companies in different countries, the name HMV is used by a chain of music shops owned by HMV, mainly in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, and Japan. In 1921 the Gramophone Company opened the first HMV shop in London, in 1929 RCA absorbed Victor, and with it a major shareholding in the Gramophone Company, which Victor had owned since 1920. In 1931 RCA was instrumental in the creation of EMI, which continued to own the His Masters Voice name, in 1935 RCA sold its stake in EMI but continued to own Victor and the rights to His Masters Voice in the Americas. HMV continued to distribute RCA recordings until RCA severed its ties with EMI in 1957, RCA Victors Japanese subsidiary, the Victor Company of Japan, became independent, and today they still use the Victor brand and Nipper in Japan only. In 1968, RCA introduced a logo and restricted the use of Nipper to the album covers of Red Seal Records. The trademark was reinstated to most RCA record labels in the Western Hemisphere beginning in late 1976 and was again widely used in RCA advertising throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. The dog reappeared for a time on RCA television sets and was used on the RCA CED videodisc system

18.
Nicaragua
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Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the largest country in the Central American isthmus. Nicaraguas capital, Managua, is the countrys largest city and the third-largest city in Central America, the multi-ethnic population of six million includes indigenous peoples, Europeans, Africans, and Asians. Native tribes on the eastern coast speak their own languages, the Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century. Nicaragua gained independence from Spain in 1821, since its independence, Nicaragua has undergone periods of political unrest, dictatorship, and fiscal crisis—the most notable causes that led to the Nicaraguan Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Nicaragua is a democratic republic. The biological diversity, warm climate and active volcanoes make Nicaragua an increasingly popular tourist destination. The name Nicaragua was coined by Spanish colonists based on the name Nicarao, when Spaniard Gil González Dávila came to Nicaragua in 1521 he found in the areas between Rivas and San Jorge the first pre-Columbian natives of Nicaragua. At the time the city was called Quauhcapolca and the cacique leaders name was Macuilmiquiztli. The Pipil migrated to Nicaragua from central Mexico after 500 BC, meanwhile, the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua was inhabited by other peoples, mostly Chibcha language groups. They had coalesced in Central America and migrated also to present-day northern Colombia and they lived a life based primarily on hunting and gathering. In 1502, Christopher Columbus became the first European known to have reached what is now Nicaragua as he sailed southeast toward the Isthmus of Panama, on his fourth voyage, Columbus explored the Miskito Coast on the Atlantic side of Nicaragua. The Spanish attempted to convert all three tribes to Christianity, Nicaragua and Nicarao and their people converted, but Dirangen, however, did not, the first attempt to conquer what is now known as Nicaragua was by Gil González Dávila, who arrived in Panama in January 1520. The first Spanish permanent settlements were founded in 1524, conquistador Francisco Hernández de Córdoba founded two of Nicaraguas principal towns in 1524, Granada on Lake Nicaragua was the first settlement, followed by León at a location west of Lake Managua. Córdoba soon built defenses for the cities and fought against incursions by other conquistadors, Córdoba was later publicly beheaded following a power struggle with Pedro Arias Dávila. His tomb and remains were discovered in 2000 in the ruins of León Viejo, the clashes among Spanish forces did not impede their destruction of the indigenous people and their culture. The series of battles came to be known as the War of the Captains, Pedro Arias Dávila was a winner, although he had lost control of Panama, he moved to Nicaragua and successfully established his base in León. Through adroit diplomatic machinations, he became the first governor of the colony, many indigenous people died as a result of new infectious diseases, compounded by neglect by the Spaniards, who controlled their subsistence. In 1610, the Momotombo volcano erupted, destroying the capital and it was rebuilt northwest of what is now known as the ruins of Old León

19.
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
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The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is the lower house of the countrys parliament. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The House is a body consisting of 650 members known as Members of Parliament. Members are elected to represent constituencies by first-past-the-post and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved, under the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power. The Government is primarily responsible to the House of Commons and the prime minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of a majority of its members. Although it does not formally elect the prime minister, the position of the parties in the House of Commons is of overriding importance, by convention, the prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Since 1963, by convention, the minister is always a member of the House of Commons. The Commons may indicate its lack of support for the Government by rejecting a motion of confidence or by passing a motion of no confidence, confidence and no confidence motions are sometimes phrased explicitly, for instance, That this House has no confidence in Her Majestys Government. Many other motions were considered confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such, in particular, important bills that form a part of the Governments agenda were formerly considered matters of confidence, as is the annual Budget. Parliament normally sits for a term of five years. Subject to that limit, the minister could formerly choose the timing of the dissolution of parliament. By this second mechanism, the government of the United Kingdom can change without a general election. In such circumstances there may not even have been a party leadership election, as the new leader may be chosen by acclaim. A prime minister may resign if he or she is not defeated at the polls. In such a case, the premiership goes to whoever can command a majority in the House of Commons, in practice this is usually the new leader of the outgoing prime ministers party. Until 1965, the Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a new leader, when Anthony Eden resigned as PM in 1957 without recommending a successor and it fell to the Queen to appoint Harold Macmillan as the new prime minister, after taking the advice of ministers. By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords, a handful have been appointed who were outside Parliament, but in most cases they then entered Parliament either in a by-election or by receiving a peerage. Since 1902, all ministers have been members of the Commons

20.
Government of the United Kingdom
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Her Majestys Government, commonly referred to as the UK government or British government, is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the Prime Minister, who all the remaining ministers. The prime minister and the other most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, the government ministers all sit in Parliament, and are accountable to it. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most likely to command a majority of MPs in the House of Commons. Under the uncodified British constitution, executive authority lies with the monarch, although this authority is exercised only by, or on the advice of, the prime minister, the Cabinet members advise the monarch as members of the Privy Council. They also exercise power directly as leaders of the Government Departments, the current prime minister is Theresa May, who took office on 13 July 2016. She is the leader of the Conservative Party, which won a majority of seats in the House of Commons in the election on 7 May 2015. Prior to this, Cameron and the Conservatives led a government from 2010 to 2015 with the Liberal Democrats. A key principle of the British Constitution is that the government is responsible to Parliament, Britain is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch does not make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by the government and Parliament and this constitutional state of affairs is the result of a long history of constraining and reducing the political power of the monarch, beginning with the Magna Carta in 1215. Parliament is split into two houses, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, the House of Commons is the lower house and is the more powerful. The House of Lords is the house and although it can vote to amend proposed laws. Parliamentary time is essential for bills to be passed into law, Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House in which they sit, they make statements in that House and take questions from members of that House. For most senior ministers this is usually the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords, since the start of Edward VIIs reign, in 1901, the prime minister has always been an elected member of Parliament and therefore directly accountable to the House of Commons. Under the British system the government is required by convention and for reasons to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons. It requires the support of the House of Commons for the maintenance of supply, by convention if a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons it must either resign or a General Election is held. The support of the Lords, while useful to the government in getting its legislation passed without delay, is not vital, a government is not required to resign even if it loses the confidence of the Lords and is defeated in key votes in that House. The House of Commons is thus the Responsible house, the prime minister is held to account during Prime Ministers Question Time which provides an opportunity for MPs from all parties to question the PM on any subject

21.
Second Boer War
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The Second Boer War, usually known as the Boer War and also at the time as the South African War, started on 11 October 1899 and ended on 31 May 1902. Great Britain defeated two Boer states in South Africa, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, Britain was aided by its Cape Colony, Colony of Natal and some native African allies. The British war effort was supported by volunteers from the British Empire, including Southern Africa, the Australian colonies, Canada, India. All other nations were neutral, but public opinion in them was largely hostile to Britain, inside Britain and its Empire there also was significant opposition to the Second Boer War. The British were overconfident and under-prepared, the Boers were very well armed and struck first, besieging Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mafeking in early 1900, and winning important battles at Colenso, Magersfontein and Stormberg. Staggered, the British brought in numbers of soldiers and fought back. General Redvers Buller was replaced by Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener and they relieved the three besieged cities, and invaded the two Boer republics in late 1900. The onward marches of the British Army were so overwhelming that the Boers did not fight staged battles in defense of their homeland, the British quickly seized control of all of the Orange Free State and Transvaal, as the civilian leadership went into hiding or exile. In conventional terms, the war was over, Britain officially annexed the two countries in 1900, and called a khaki election to give the government another six years of power in London. However, the Boers refused to surrender and they reverted to guerrilla warfare under new generals Louis Botha, Jan Smuts, Christiaan de Wet and Koos de la Rey. Two more years of attacks and quick escapes followed. As guerrillas without uniforms, the Boer fighters easily blended into the farmlands, which provided hiding places, supplies, the British solution was to set up complex nets of block houses, strong points, and barbed wire fences, partitioning off the entire conquered territory. The civilian farmers were relocated into concentration camps, where very large proportions died of disease, especially the children, then the British mounted infantry units systematically tracked down the highly mobile Boer guerrilla units. The battles at this stage were small operations with few combat casualties The war ended in surrender, the British successfully won over the Boer leaders, who now gave full support to the new political system. Both former republics were incorporated into the Union of South Africa in 1910, the conflict is commonly referred to as simply the Boer War, since the First Boer War is much less well known. Boer was the term for Afrikaans-speaking white South Africans descended from the Dutch East India Companys original settlers at the Cape of Good Hope. It is officially called the South African War and it is known as the Anglo-Boer War among some South Africans. In Afrikaans it may be called the Anglo-Boereoorlog, Tweede Boereoorlog, in South Africa it is officially called the South African War

22.
Boer
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Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer. As used in South Africa, it was used to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century. For a long time the Dutch East India Company controlled this area, in addition the term was applied to those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State, Transvaal, and to a lesser extent Natal. They left the Cape primarily to escape British rule and get away from the constant border wars between the British imperial government and the tribes on the eastern frontier. The Dutch East India Company had been formed in the Dutch Republic in 1602, in 1648 one of their ships was stranded in Table Bay, and the shipwrecked crew had to forage for themselves on shore for several months. The result was that in 1652, a Dutch expedition led by surgeon Jan van Riebeek constructed a fort, landing at Table Bay, Van Riebeek took control over Cape Town, the settlement developed during the previous 10 years. In 1671 the Dutch first purchased land from the native Khoikhoi beyond the limits of the built by Van Riebeek. They formed a class of a class of vrijlieden, also known as vrijburgers, a large number of vrijburgers became independent farmers and applied for grants of land, as well as loans of seed and tools, from the Company administration. Political refugees from the wars in France, following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, they were settled at Stellenbosch, Drakenstein, Franschhoek. The influence of small body of immigrants on the character of the Dutch settlers was marked. The Company in 1701 directed that only Dutch should be taught in the schools and this resulted in the Huguenots assimilating by the middle of the 18th century, with a loss to the community in the use and knowledge of French. The little settlement gradually spread eastwards, and in 1754 the country as far as Algoa Bay was included in the colony, at this time the European colonists numbered eight to ten thousand. They possessed numerous slaves, grew wheat in sufficient quantity to make it a commodity crop for export, but their chief wealth was in cattle. Through the latter half of the 17th and the whole of the 18th century, the administration of the Dutch East India Company was extremely despotic. Its policies were not directed at development of the colony, the effect of this tyranny was inevitable, it drove men to desperation. They fled from oppression, and even before 1700 trekking began, in 1789, so strong had feeling amongst the burghers become that delegates were sent from the Cape to interview the authorities at Amsterdam. After this deputation, some reforms were granted. It was largely to escape oppression that the farmers trekked farther and farther from the seat of government, the company, to control the emigrants, established a magistracy at Swellendam in 1745 and another at Graaff Reinet in 1786

23.
Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal
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Ladysmith is a town in the Uthukela District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is 230 kilometres north-west of Durban and 365 kilometres south of Johannesburg, important industries in the area include food processing, textile and tyre production. Tyres are produced by Sumitomo Rubber South Africa in the town of Steadville. Ladysmith is the seat for both the Alfred Duma Local Municipality and the Uthukela District Municipality, in 1847 after buying land from the Zulu king Mpande, a number of Boers settled in the area and called it the Republic of Klip River with Andries Spies as their commandant. The republic was annexed by the British in the same year, on 11 October 1850 the name was changed to Ladysmith after Juana María de los Dolores de León Smith also known as Lady Smith, the Spanish wife of Sir Harry Smith, the Governor of the Cape Colony. Sir Harry Smith was the British general governor of Cape Colony, a fort was built in 1860 to protect the villagers from the Zulu. During the Second Boer War British commander Lieutenant General Sir George White made Ladysmith his centre of operations for the protection of Natal against the Boer forces. Following the Battle of Ladysmith, whilst British forces under Lieutenant General Sir George White regrouped in the town, the siege lasted 118 days, from 2 November 1899 to 28 February 1900, during the most crucial stage of the war. Approximately 3,000 British soldiers died during the siege, three attempts by General Sir Redvers Buller to break the siege resulted in defeat for the British forces at the battles of Colenso, Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz. On 6 January 1900 the Boer forces of Commandant-General Piet Joubert attempted to end the siege by taking the town before the British could launch another attempt to break the siege and this led to the battle of Platrand south of the town. Buller finally broke the siege on 28 February 1900 after defeating the Boers by using close cooperation between his infantry and artillery. Sir Winston Churchill, then a war correspondent for The Morning Post, was present at the Relief of Ladysmith after having been taken prisoner. Mohandas Gandhi and the corps that he established earlier during the war was involved in a number of actions that took place in. Ladysmith is located on the banks of the Klip River, with the business district. It is on the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains, about 26 km from the Van Reenen pass, since it was established the town has suffered severely from flooding of the Klip River. During the 110 years up to 1997 with the completion of the Qedusizi Dam,29 serious floods have occurred, minor flooding occurred almost every year. The worst flooding in 30 years occurred in 1996 leading to R500 million in damages, efforts to control the flooding date back to the 1940s. In 1949 the Windsor Dam was completed, but this dam silted up very fast and was not a means of flood control

24.
Mile End
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Mile End is a district mostly centred around the north-south Mile End Park in East London, England,3.6 miles east-northeast of Charing Cross. On the London to Colchester road, it was one of the earliest suburbs of the City of London, in 2011, Mile End had a population of 28,544. Mile End is recorded in 1288 as La Mile ende and it is formed from the Middle English mile and ende and means the hamlet a mile away. The mile distance was in relation to Aldgate in the City of London, in around 1691 Mile End became known as Mile End Old Town because a new unconnected settlement to the west and adjacent to Spitalfields had taken the name Mile End New Town. This data combines the ethnicity data for Mile Ends two wards, whilst there are many references to settlements in the area, excavations have suggested there were very few buildings before 1300. Mile End Road is an ancient route from London to the East, in the medieval period it was known as ‘Aldgatestrete’, as it led to the eastern entrance to the City of London at Aldgate. The area running alongside Mile End Road was known as Mile End Green, for most of the medieval period, this road was surrounded by open fields on either side, but speculative developments existed by the end of the 16th century and continued throughout the 18th century. The Stepney Green Conservation Area was designated in January 1973, covering the previously known as Mile End Old Town. It is a large Conservation Area with a shape that encloses buildings around Mile End Road, Assembly Passage, Louisa Street. It is an area of architectural and historic interest, with a character and appearance worthy of protection. It is situated just north of the village of Stepney. On 12 June, the Essex rebels, comprising 100,000 men, camped at Mile End, on 14 June, the young king Richard II rode to Mile End where he met the rebels and signed their charter. The king subsequently had the leaders and many rebels executed, in 1883, Jacob P. Adler arrived in London with a troupe of refugee professional actors. He enlisted the help of local amateurs, and the Russian Jewish Operatic Company made their debut at the Beaumont Hall, within two years they were able to establish their own theatre in Brick Lane. Five acres of land were secured on the Mile End Road, the complex was completed with a library, swimming pool, gymnasium and winter garden by 1892, providing an eclectic mix of populist entertainment and education. A peak of 8,000 tickets were sold for classes in 1892, and by 1900, a new Peoples Palace was constructed, in 1937, by the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney, in St Helens Terrace. Besides suffering heavily in earlier blitzes, Mile End was hit by the first V-1 flying bomb to strike London, on 13 June 1944, this doodlebug impacted next to the railway bridge on Grove Road, an event now commemorated by a plaque. Eight civilians were killed,30 injured and 200 made homeless by the blast, the area remained derelict for many years, until cleared to extend Mile End park

25.
Orange Free State
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It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province. In the northern part of the territory a Voortrekker Republic was established at Winburg in 1837 and this state was in federation with the Republic of Potchefstroom which later formed part of the South African Republic. The new republic incorporated the Orange River Sovereignty and included the traditions of the Winburg-Potchefstroom Republic and it ceased to exist as an independent Boer republic on 31 May 1902 with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging at the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Boer War. Following a period of rule by the British, it joined the Union of South Africa in 1910 as the Orange Free State Province, along with the Cape Province, Natal. In 1961, the Union of South Africa became the Republic of South Africa. The republics name derives partly from the Orange River, which in turn was named in honour of the Dutch ruling royal family, the official language in the Orange Free State was Dutch. Europeans first visited the north of the Orange River towards the close of the 18th century. At that time, the population was sparse, early in the 19th century Griquas established themselves north of the Orange. Between 1817 and 1831, the country was devastated by the chief Mzilikazi and his Matabele in the known as the Mfecane. Up to this time the few Europeans who had crossed the Orange had come mainly as hunters or as missionaries and they were followed in 1836 by the first parties of the Great Trek. These emigrants left the Cape Colony for various reasons, but all shared the desire to escape from British authority. When Boer families first reached the area discovered that it had been devastated by a section of the Zulu tribe under Mzilikazi and his people. The Matebele had swept the country, destroying the fields, carrying off the cattle, the Boers soon came into collision with Mzilikazis raiding parties, which attacked Boer hunters who crossed the Vaal River. Reprisals followed, and in November 1837 the Boers decisively defeated Mzilikazi, in the meantime another party of Cape Dutch emigrants had settled at Thaba Nchu, where the Wesleyans had a mission station for the Barolong. The emigrants were treated with kindness by Moroka II, the chief of that tribe. In December 1836 the emigrants beyond the Orange drew up in general assembly an elementary form of government. After the defeat of Mzilikazi the town of Winburg was founded, a Volksraad elected, the emigrants already numbered some 500 men, besides women and children and many servants. Dissensions speedily arose among the emigrants, whose numbers were added to

26.
Labour Party (UK)
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The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation

27.
Ramsay MacDonald
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Historians credit MacDonald, along with Keir Hardie and Arthur Henderson, as one of the three principal founders of the Labour Party. His speeches, pamphlets and books him an important theoretician. He entered Parliament in 1906 and was the Chairman of the Labour MPs from 1911 to 1914 and he was widely denounced for his opposition to the First World War, and he lost his seat in 1918. The antiwar mood of the 1920s led to his rehabilitation in the 1920s and he returned to Parliament in 1922, the first Labour government—formed with Liberal support—in 1924 lasted only nine months but demonstrated that the Labour Party was sufficiently competent to run a government. In 1931, MacDonald formed a National Government in which two of his Labour colleagues agreed to serve. His majority came from the Conservatives and he abandoned the gold standard and called a general election in 1931 seeking a doctors mandate to do whatever was necessary to fix the economy. MacDonalds National coalition won a landslide and the Labour Party was reduced to a rump of around 50 seats in the House of Commons. Nevertheless budget pressures, and a strong popular pacifist sentiment, forced a reduction in the military and his health rapidly deteriorated and he became increasingly ineffective as a leader. He stood down as Prime Minister in 1935, losing his seat at the election that autumn. He remained in the Cabinet as Lord President of the Council until retiring from the government in 1937 and dying, still an MP, later that year. Since 1931 MacDonald has been denounced by Labour supporters as a traitor to their cause. Since the late 1970s historians have defended his reputation, emphasising his role in building up the Labour Party. MacDonald was born at Gregory Place, Lossiemouth, Morayshire, Scotland, the son of John MacDonald, a farm labourer, and Anne Ramsay. Although registered at birth as James McDonald Ramsay, he was known as Jaimie MacDonald and his mother had worked as a domestic servant at Claydale farm, near Alves, where her future husband was also employed. Ramsay MacDonald received an education at the Free Church of Scotland school in Lossiemouth from 1872 to 1875. He left school at the end of the term in 1881, at the age of 15. In December 1881 he was appointed as a teacher at Drainie parish school. In 1885 he left to take up a position as an assistant to Mordaunt Crofton and it was in Bristol that Ramsay MacDonald joined the Democratic Federation, a Radical sect

28.
Siege of Ladysmith
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The Siege of Ladysmith was a protracted engagement in the Second Boer War, taking place between 2 November 1899 and 28 February 1900 at Ladysmith, Natal. Some of these troops were diverted while returning to Britain from India, others were sent from garrisons in the Mediterranean, lieutenant General Sir George White was appointed to command this enlarged force. White was 64 years old and suffered from a leg injury incurred in a riding accident, having served mainly in India, he had little previous experience of South Africa. Instead, they regarded it as evidence of Britains determination to control of the Boer republics. With the complete breakdown in negotiations, both declared war and attacked on 12 October. A total of 21,000 Boers advanced into Natal from all sides, White had been advised to deploy his force far back, well clear of the area of northern Natal known as the Natal Triangle, a wedge of land lying between the two Boer republics. Instead, White deployed his forces around the town of Ladysmith, with a detachment even further forward at Dundee. The entire British force could concentrate only after fighting two battles at Talana Hill and Elandslaagte, as the Boers surrounded Ladysmith, White ordered a sortie by his entire force to capture the Boer artillery. The result was the disastrous Battle of Ladysmith, in which the British were driven back into the town having lost 1,200 men killed, wounded or captured, the Boers then proceeded to surround Ladysmith and cut the railway link to Durban. Major General French and his Chief of Staff, Major Douglas Haig escaped on the last train to leave and this town was then besieged for 118 days. White knew that large reinforcements were arriving, and could communicate with British units south of the Tugela River by searchlight, meanwhile, his troops carried out several raids and sorties to sabotage Boer artillery. Louis Botha commanded the Boer detachment which first raided Southern Natal, on 15 December, the first relief attempt was defeated at the Battle of Colenso. Temporarily unnerved, the force commander, General Redvers Henry Buller, suggested that White either break out or destroy his stores and ammunition. White could not break out because his horses and draught animals were weak from lack of grazing and forage, but also refused to surrender. On Christmas Day 1899, the Boers fired into Ladysmith a carrier shell without fuze, the shell is still kept in the museum at Ladysmith. The Boers around Ladysmith were also growing weak from lack of forage, with little action, many fighters took unauthorised leave or brought their families into the siege encampments. The British line south of Ladysmith ran along a known as the Platrand. The occupying British troops had named its features Wagon Hill to the west, under Ian Hamilton, they had constructed a line of forts, sangars and entrenchments on the reverse slope of the Platrand, of which the Boers were unaware

29.
Ashanti Empire
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The Ashanti Empire was an Akan empire and kingdom in what is now modern-day Ghana. The Ashanti Empire expanded from Ashanti to include the Brong-Ahafo, Central region, Eastern region, Greater Accra region, the Ashanti benefited from early firearm adoption. Combined with effective strategy, they fashioned an empire that stretched from central Ghana to the present-day Ivory Coast. Starting in the late 17th century, the Ashanti king Osei Tutu and his advisor Okomfo Anokye, established the Ashanti Kingdom, with the Golden Stool of Asante as a sole unifying symbol. In 1701, the Ashanti army conquered Denkyira, giving the Ashanti access to the Gulf of Guinea, the Ashanti Kingdom is the home to Lake Bosumtwi, Ghanas only natural lake. The states current economic revenue is derived mainly from trading in gold bars, cocoa, kola nuts and agriculture, forest has also cleared to plant cassava, maize. Today the Ashanti Kingdom survives as a protected, sub-national proto-state. The current king of the Ashanti Kingdom is Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Asantehene, the name Asante means because of war. The word derives from the twi words asa meaning war and nti meaning because of and this name comes from the Asantes origin as a kingdom created to fight the Denkyira Kingdom. The variant name Ashanti comes from British reports that transcribing Asante as the British heard it pronounced, the hyphenation was subsequently dropped and the name Ashanti remained, with various spellings including Ashantee common into the early 20th century. Before the Ashanti Kingdom had contact with Europeans, it had a trade with other African states due to the Ashanti gold wealth. Trade with European states began after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century AD, when the gold mines in the Sahel started to play out, the Ashanti Kingdom rose to prominence as the major player in the gold trade. At the height of the Ashanti Kingdom, the Ashanti people became wealthy through the trading of gold mined from their territory, Ashanti political organization was originally centered on clans headed by a paramount chief or Amanhene. One particular clan, the Oyoko, settled in the Ashantis sub-tropical forest region, the introduction of the Golden Stool was a means of centralization under Osei Tutu. According to legend, a meeting of all the heads of each of the Ashanti settlements was called just prior to declaring independence from Denkyira. Okomfo Anokye declared the stool to be symbolic of the new Asante Union, the newly declared Ashanti union subsequently waged war against and defeated Denkyira. The stool remains sacred to the Ashanti as it is believed to contain the Sunsum — spirit or soul of the Ashanti people, King Opoku Ware I engaged in further Akan territorial expansion king Kusi Obodom succeeded Opoku Ware I. Asante king Osei Kwadwo imposed administrative reforms that allowed the Ashanti Kingdom to be governed effectively, King Osei Kwame Panyin, and King Osei Tutu Kwame continued the Ashanti Kingdoms territorial consolidation

30.
Irish Guards
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The Irish Guards recruit in Northern Ireland and the Irish neighbourhoods of major British cities. One way to distinguish between the five regiments of Foot Guards is the spacing of the buttons on their tunics, the Irish Guards have buttons arranged in groups of four as they were the fourth Foot Guards regiment to be founded. They also have a prominent St. Patricks blue plume on the side of their bearskins. The Irish Guards regiment was formed on 1 April 1900 by order of Queen Victoria to commemorate the Irishmen who fought in the Second Boer War for the British Empire. Following the outbreak of the First World War, 1st Battalion, The Irish Guards was deployed to France almost immediately, during the early part of the war, the battalion took part in the Battle of Mons and formed the Allied rearguard during the Great Retreat. The battalion then took part in one of the bloodiest battles of 1914, the First Battle of Ypres, the battle caused major casualties among the old Regular Army. The 1st Battalion was involved in fighting for the duration of First Ypres, at Langemarck, Gheluvelt, the 1st Battalion suffered huge casualties between November 1–8 holding the line against near defeat by German forces, while defending Klein Zillebeke. In May 1915, the 1st Irish Guards took part in the Battle of Festubert, Two further battalions were formed for the regiment in July. In September that year, the battalion, as well as the 2nd Irish Guards, who had reached France in August, took part in the Battle of Loos, both battalions spent the rest of 1915 in the trenches and did not fight in any major engagements. This relative quite period for the regiment was broken on 1 July 1916 when the Battle of the Somme began, the 1st Irish Guards took part in an action at Flers–Courcelette where they suffered severe casualties in the attack in the face of withering fire from the German machine-guns. The battalion also took part in the action at Morval before they were relieved the by the 2nd Irish Guards, in 1917 the Irish Guards took part in the Battle of Pilckem which began on the 31 July during the Third Battle of Ypres. The Irish Guards also took part in the Battle of Cambrai in that year, in 1918 the regiment fought in a number of engagements during the Second Battle of the Somme, including at Arras and Albert. The regiment then went on to part in a number of battles during the British offensives against the Hindenburg Line. On 11 November 1918 the Armistice with Germany was signed, the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards were at Maubeuge when the Armistice was signed. This proposal, however, did not find favour in government or army circles and was dropped, between the wars, the regiment was deployed at various times to Turkey, Gibraltar, Egypt and Palestine. During the Second World War, battalions of the regiment fought in Norway, France, North Africa and Italy and following D-Day in France, Belgium, the regiment first saw combat during the Norwegian Campaign. Following a challenging sea voyage to Norway, the 1st Irish Guards arrived in May 1940, the Irish Guards conducted a fighting withdrawal and served as the Allied rearguard. The battalion were evacuated along with the rest of the force in June

31.
Edward VII
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Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, before his accession to the throne, he served as heir apparent and held the title of Prince of Wales for longer than any of his predecessors. During the long reign of his mother, he was excluded from political power. He travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial duties, and represented Britain on visits abroad. His tours of North America in 1860 and the Indian subcontinent in 1875 were popular successes, as king, Edward played a role in the modernisation of the British Home Fleet and the reorganisation of the British Army after the Second Boer War. He reinstituted traditional ceremonies as public displays and broadened the range of people with whom royalty socialised and he died in 1910 in the midst of a constitutional crisis that was resolved the following year by the Parliament Act 1911, which restricted the power of the unelected House of Lords. Edward was born at 10,48 in the morning on 9 November 1841 in Buckingham Palace and he was the eldest son and second child of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He was christened Albert Edward at St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle and he was named Albert after his father and Edward after his maternal grandfather Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. He was known as Bertie to the family throughout his life. As the eldest son of the British sovereign, he was automatically Duke of Cornwall, as a son of Prince Albert, he also held the titles of Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke of Saxony. He was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on 8 December 1841, Earl of Dublin on 17 January 1850, a Knight of the Garter on 9 November 1858, and a Knight of the Thistle on 24 May 1867. In 1863, he renounced his rights to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in favour of his younger brother. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were determined that their eldest son should have an education that would prepare him to be a constitutional monarch. At age seven, Edward embarked on an educational programme devised by Prince Albert. Unlike his elder sister Victoria, Edward did not excel in his studies and he tried to meet the expectations of his parents, but to no avail. Although Edward was not a diligent student—his true talents were those of charm, sociability and tact—Benjamin Disraeli described him as informed, intelligent, after the completion of his secondary-level studies, his tutor was replaced by a personal governor, Robert Bruce. After an educational trip to Rome, undertaken in the first few months of 1859, he spent the summer of that year studying at the University of Edinburgh under, among others, in October, he matriculated as an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford. Now released from the strictures imposed by his parents, he enjoyed studying for the first time

32.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie

33.
Dublin
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Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Dublin is in the province of Leinster on Irelands east coast, the city has an urban area population of 1,345,402. The population of the Greater Dublin Area, as of 2016, was 1,904,806 people, founded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin became Irelands principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800, following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland. Dublin is administered by a City Council, the city is listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-, which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world. It is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration, economy, the name Dublin comes from the Irish word Dubhlinn, early Classical Irish Dubhlind/Duibhlind, dubh /d̪uβ/, alt. /d̪uw/, alt /d̪u, / meaning black, dark, and lind /lʲiɲ pool and this tidal pool was located where the River Poddle entered the Liffey, on the site of the castle gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle. In Modern Irish the name is Duibhlinn, and Irish rhymes from Dublin County show that in Dublin Leinster Irish it was pronounced Duílinn /d̪ˠi, other localities in Ireland also bear the name Duibhlinn, variously anglicized as Devlin, Divlin and Difflin. Historically, scribes using the Gaelic script wrote bh with a dot over the b and those without knowledge of Irish omitted the dot, spelling the name as Dublin. Variations on the name are found in traditionally Irish-speaking areas of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. Baile Átha Cliath, meaning town of the ford, is the common name for the city in modern Irish. Áth Cliath is a name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street, there are other towns of the same name, such as Àth Cliath in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which is Anglicised as Hurlford. Although the area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times and he called the settlement Eblana polis. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. The subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay, the Dubhlinn was a small lake used to moor ships, the Poddle connected the lake with the Liffey. This lake was covered during the early 18th century as the city grew, the Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle

34.
Royal Automobile Club
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The Royal Automobile Club is a British private club and is not to be confused with RAC, an automotive services company, which it formerly owned. It has two houses, one in London at 89–91 Pall Mall, and the other in the countryside at Woodcote Park, Surrey. Like many other clubs in London today, the Royal Automobile Club welcomes women as members. It was founded on 10 August 1897 as the Automobile Club of Great Britain, the headquarters was originally in a block of flats at 4 Whitehall Court, moving to 119 Piccadilly in 1902. In the face of considerable opposition a speed limit of 20 mph was retained in addition to the creation of the offence of driving recklessly, dangerously or negligently, in 1905, the Club organised the first Tourist Trophy motorcycle race, the oldest regularly run motor race. The Club became the body for motor sport in Britain. King Edward VIIs interest in motoring led to the command in 1907 that the Automobile Club of Great Britain and it cost over a quarter of a million pounds and is described in the Survey of London as a polished essay in the late French Renaissance manner. In September 1914, a group of RAC members put themselves and their cars at the disposal of the British Red Cross. The RAC was responsible for organising the first British Grand Prix motor race at Brooklands, Surrey in 1926 and also runs its sister organisation, in 1978 during a re-organisation the Associate Section was established as a separate company RAC Motoring Services Ltd, which was owned by the organisation. In 1991 the RAC Foundation was split off as the arm of RAC Motoring Services. In September 1999 members sold RAC Motoring Services to Lex Service plc, RAC Plc was then acquired by Aviva plc in March 2005 for around £1.1 billion. As of 2009, the subscription is £1,125 per year. The entrance fee is on a scale, ranging from an additional £940 to £1,600. The patrolmen had a rank structure with corporals, sergeants. Mounted on Matchless motorbikes with sidecars containing a tool kit, fanbelts, engine hoses, until around 1930 control could only contact the mobile patrolmen by telephone, so they waited by public telephone boxes for the callout. From 1957 onwards they were equipped with sets for two way contact with their local headquarters. Although they were never as numerous as AA boxes there was a measure of cooperation between the two motoring clubs—keys fitted both types of box and members messages were passed on. The telephones were installed in locked boxes painted in blue with the RAC logo badge mounted on the top of the box

35.
Rallying
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Rallying is a form of motorsport that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars. Rallies may be won by pure speed within the stages or alternatively by driving to a predetermined ideal journey time within the stages, the term rally, as a branch of motorsport, probably dates from the first Monte Carlo Rally of January 1911. Until the late 1920s, few if any other used the term. The first of these races was the Paris–Bordeaux–Paris race of June 1895, won by Paul Koechlin in a Peugeot. Levassors time for the 1,178 km course, running virtually without a break, was 48 hours and 48 minutes, an average speed of 24 km/h. Speeds had now far outstripped the safe limits of dusty highways thronged with spectators and open to traffic, people and animals, there were numerous crashes, many injuries. The French government stopped the race and banned this style of event, from then on, racing in Europe would be on closed circuits, initially on long loops of public highway and then, in 1907, on the first purpose-built track, Englands Brooklands. Racing was going its own separate way, Italy had been running road competitions since 1895, when a reliability trial was run from Turin to Asti and back. The countrys first true motor race was held in 1897 along the shore of Lake Maggiore, from Arona to Stresa, the first Alpine event was held in 1898, the Austrian Touring Clubs three-day Automobile Run through South Tyrol, which included the infamous Stelvio Pass. Seventy vehicles took part, the majority of them trade entries and they had to complete thirteen stages of route varying in length from 43 to 123 miles at average speeds of up to the legal limit of 12 mph, and tackle six hillclimb or speed tests. On rest days and at lunch halts, the cars were shown to the public in exhibition halls, the Motor Cycling Club allowed cars to enter its trials and runs from 1904. In 1924, the exercise was repeated as the Small Car Trials, in Germany, the Herkomer Trophy was first held in 1905, and again in 1906. This challenging five-day event attracted over 100 entrants to tackle its 1,000 km road section, a hillclimb and a speed trial, but sadly it was marred by poor organisation and confusing regulations. One participant had been Prince Henry of Austria, who was inspired to do better, another trial was held in 1910. These were very successful, attracting top drivers and works cars from major teams – several manufacturers added Prince Henry models to their ranges. The first Alpine Trial was held in 1909, in Austria, by 1914, the competitive elements were slight, but getting to Monaco in winter was a challenge in itself. A second event was held in 1912, two ultra long distance challenges took place at this time. The New York–Paris of the year, which went via Japan and Siberia, was won by George Schuster

36.
Daily Express
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The Daily Express is a daily national middle market tabloid newspaper in the United Kingdom. It is the title of Express Newspapers, a subsidiary of Northern & Shell. It was first published as a broadsheet in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson and its sister paper The Sunday Express was launched in 1918. As of December 2016, it had a daily circulation of 391,626. The paper was acquired by Richard Desmond in 2000, hugh Whittow has served as the papers editor since February of 2011. The papers editorial stances are often seen as aligned to the UK Independence Party, in addition to its sister paper, Express Newspapers also publishes the red top newspapers the Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday. The Daily Express was founded in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson, Pearson, who had lost his sight to glaucoma in 1913, sold the title to the future Lord Beaverbrook in 1916. It was one of the first papers to place instead of advertisements on its front page along with carrying gossip, sports. It was also the first newspaper in Britain to have a crossword puzzle, the Express began printing copies in Manchester in 1927 and in 1931, the publication moved to 120 Fleet Street, a specially commissioned art deco building. Under Beaverbrook, the newspaper achieved a high circulation, setting records for newspaper sales several times throughout the 1930s. Its success was due to its aggressive marketing campaign and a vigorous circulation war with other populist newspapers. Beaverbrook also discovered and encouraged an editor named Arthur Christiansen who, at an early age, showed talent for writing. Christiansen became editor in October 1933, under his editorial direction sales climbed from two million in 1936 to four million in 1949. The paper also featured Alfred Bestalls Rupert Bear cartoon and satirical cartoons by Carl Giles which it began publishing in the 1940s, on 24 March 1933, a front page headline titled Judea Declares War on Germany was published by the Daily Express. During the late thirties, the paper was an advocate of the appeasement policies of the Chamberlain government. The ruralist author Henry Williamson wrote for the paper on many occasions for half a century and he also wrote for the Sunday Express at the beginning of his career. In 1938, the moved to the Daily Express Building. It opened a building in Glasgow in 1936 in Albion Street

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime …

Late in the 17th century Treasury Ministers began to attend the Commons regularly. They were given a reserved place, called the Treasury Bench, to the Speaker's right where the Prime Minister and senior Cabinet members sit today.

The House of Commons early 19th century. The Loyal Opposition occupy the benches to the Speaker's left. Seated in the front, the leaders of the opposition form a "Shadow Government", complete with a salaried "Shadow Prime Minister" ready to assume office if the government falls or loses the next election.